ART NEWS: May 04

 

Titled “The Last Museum”, the group exhibition takes its name from a photographic series and eponymous book by Brion Gysin—an iconic figure of the Beat Generation and the inventor of the “cut-up” technique—who lived from 1973 until his death in 1986 at 135 rue Saint-Martin, the very address where Galerie Poggi relocated two years ago. It was from his fourth-floor window in this legendary building—then a vibrant hub of artistic and literary creation—that Gysin observed and photographed the gradual construction of the Centre Pompidou, producing the series he would title “The Last Museum”.  The exhibition’s title plays on the double meaning of the word last in English: evoking both the “final” museum of the 20th century— ultimate, visionary, and postmodern—and a museum that lasts—timeless, enduring, grounded more in the temporality of artworks than that of human life. An “Everlasting Museum”. Paradoxically, the absence of an artwork can make its presence all the more powerful—its aura lingering far beyond its physical form. Alongside historical works by Brion Gysin, the exhibition will bring together around fifteen artists—represented by the gallery or specially invited for the occasion—whose practices explore, engage with, or subvert the notion of emptiness. Among them are several voices from Ukraine, a country where museums are disappearing under bombs, emptied of their collections—either looted or sheltered from destruction. Info: Galerie Poggi, 135, Rue Saint-Martin, Paris, France, Duration: 16/5-2/8/2025, Days & Hours : Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, https://galeriepoggi.com/

Belkis Ayón is one of Cuba’s most prominent artists. In “Mythologies”, the first Nordic presentation of the artist’s work, are on view creative highlights from her brief but intense career, from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. The figures, symbols and rituals that feature in Belkis Ayón’s monumental works are drawn from the Abakuá, a secretive Afro-Cuban brotherhood that she explored throughout her artistic career. Her interpretations of their myths speak of belonging, silence, power and resistance, introducing ideas about the amalgamation of religions and belief systems. Ayón’s iconic works create their own universe of traditions, hierarchies and worldviews. In particular, she focused on the female character Sikán, who – despite her central role in Abakuá mythology – had been excluded from religious practice. By giving a voice to Sikán and other silenced figures, Ayón challenged both religious and societal power structures in Cuban society. Her work dates back to a period of economic crisis and profound uncertainty in Cuba, issues reflected by artists of her generation. As a woman and an atheist, her works proposed a radical new mythology through which to reinterpret history and influence the future.  Info: Bildmuseet, Östra Strandgatan 30B, Umeå, Sweeden, Duration: 23/5-23/11/2025, Days & Hours: Wed-Sat 12:00-17:00, www.bildmuseet.umu.se/

The exhibition “Kompakt 500” is dedicated to a company based in Cologne. It is one that stands, like carnival and Kölsch beer, for tradition and continuity. It is a well-established business, albeit one that keeps its walls porous and its doors wide open. Expansion and reinvention are as essential to it as a regular bass drumbeat and the exhilarating joie de vivre of Hildegard Knef’s vocals. The principle of ‘no more than is needed’ resonates down the decades, with a simple dot as a trademark. A manifesto of autonomy and aesthetic minimalism. As a rule, techno is catalogued not by stars big and small, but by sober numerals. The number 500 represents not an anniversary but the number of catalogued records the firm has produced, a milestone which this exhibition celebrates. For over thirty years, Kompakt’s work has been influencing and nurturing the worlds both of music and art. Its headquarters in Cologne’s Werderstrasse is a space of free creativity, modelled on Andy Warhol’s Factory. Kompakt is not least the story of something that emerged organically from a group of friends with a shared craze for electronic music. However, by aiming to keep everything in its own hands, Kompakt also embodies a political idea of autonomy, even though it all began as a bit of a laugh. Info: Kölnischer Kunstverein, Hahnenstraße 6, Cologne, Germany, Duration: 24/5-6/7/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, https://koelnischerkunstverein.de/

“Outside In”, is the first solo exhibition in Southeast Asia dedicated to pioneering artist Wifredo Lam and brings together over 60 works on paper from the Wifredo Lam Estate, offering rare insight into the printmaking practice of an artist who is increasingly recognised as one of the most important figures in 20th century modern art. The exhibition highlights Lam’s renewed focus on printmaking in his later years, much of which was developed in close collaboration with renowned Italian master printer Giorgio Upiglio from 1963 to 1982. Through these prints, often created alongside leading avant-garde poets such as Aimé Césaire and Gherasim Luca, Lam crafted livres d’artiste (artist books) that reflect a deep dialogue between word and image. These collaborations capture Lam’s belief in poetry, as both method and muse in his art.The exhibition also includes a selection of prints from Lam’s Centennial Edition that collectors can look forward to — a remarkable posthumous tribute published between 1997 and 2002 that celebrates the centenary of the artist’s birth. Drawn from a set of unpublished plates that Lam had worked on during his lifetime, the prints were selected for having been signed or marked “bon à tirer” by the artist, an industry standard approval for workshops to commence with print runs. Info: STPI Creative Workshop & Gallery, 41 Robertson Quay, Singapore, Duration: 24/5-13/7/2025, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-19:00, Sun 11:00-17:00, www.stpi.com.sg/

Internationally renowned artist Stephan Balkenhol is one of the most authentic and celebrated sculptors of his generation. He is known for his figurative wooden sculptures and reliefs that combine traditional craftsmanship with contemporary art. While chopping and cutting away in the wood, Balkenhol unearths figures from the trunk of a tree as if they were already hiding inside. Balkenhol’s figures are rendered in simple, confident shapes: a human being with the head of a hedgehog, a shark with a man hidden inside it, or a monumental statue of the Greek hero Perseus with Medusa’s head. In HALL 3, Kunsthal Rotterdam is showing “Something is Happening”, a varied selection of his wooden sculptures and reliefs. Balkenhol’s visual language is rooted in European art history, interspersed with influences from Ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. At the same time they have an everyday quality that invites us to come up with our own interpretations. Info: Kunsthal Rotterdam, Museumpark, Westzeedijk 341, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Duration: 24/5-14/9/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, www.kunsthal.nl/

Julian Rosefeldt, presenting for the first time works from a total of thirty years. Through previously unpublished storyboards, sketches, set photographs, and making-of documentation, the exhibition “Nothing is Original” offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of his image production. Rosefeldt is one of the leading contemporary artists and filmmakers today. In his elaborately staged film and video installations, he works with museum spaces, theaters, opera houses, and postindustrial zones, always challenging the mechanisms of image production as well as the construction of narratives and ideologies. His works oscillate between fiction and documentary research, between staging and analysis. A major theme in his work is the deconstruction of classic film genres and television formats. By breaking down westerns and gangster films, slapstick and science fiction, as well as news broadcasts and soap operas into their basic narrative components, he reveals their structures. Another focus of the exhibition is the examination of history and ideologies. Rosefeldt frequently reflects on the traces of the Nazi era that extend into the present as well as the translation of political and social narratives. Info: C/O Berlin Foundation, Hardenbergstraße 22–24, Berlin, Germany, Duration: 24/5-16/9/2025, Days & Hours: Daily 11:00-20:00, www.co-berlin.org/

Titled “Our Future Is To Live With Bruises”, the first edition of RHIZOMA Biennale brings together various artistic practices that speak of vulnerability, self-expression and resilience, in the face of deep time. The 14 participating artists reflect on how we relate to our individual needs and each other, shared values and cultural conventions, and the things, ideologies and (power) structures that surround us, as well as the transformative, healing potential of acknowledging what escapes us, sharing our grief and learning to live with our limitations. RHIZOMA 2025 borrows its title from a phrase in the poem “Diaoptasia—Our Future Will Be’ (2015) by multidisciplinary artist Otobong Nkanga, who is also present at the biennial with new work of her own. Spread across five indoor and outdoor venues within walking distance of each other, “Our Future Is To Live With Bruises” connects multiple disciplines, ranging from video, installation and print to painting, words—and more. More than half of the works on display are brand-new creations, in combination with recent and historical works that have never been shown in Belgium before. Info: Artistic Director: Stijn Maes, MASEREEL, Masereeldijk 5, 2460 Kasterlee, Belgium, Duration: 25/5-13/7/2025, Days & Hours: Fri-Sun 11:00-18:00, Venues: See website, https://rhizomabiennial.art/

The group exhibition “Tacit Tongues” brings together 15 works by Buryat, Mila Balzhieva, Natalia Papaeva, and Nomin Zezegmaa, alongside Slavs and Tatars. Spanning painting, textile, video, mixed media, performance and installation—that examine the fragility and resilience of language in preserving cultural memory, reclaiming identities, and disrupting established power relations. The exhibition responds to a legacy of adaptation and erasure experienced by cultures and languages throughout the 20th century—particularly in Mongolia and the culturally kindred Republic of Buryatia in Eastern Siberia. Informed by tacit knowledge and Indigenous approaches to storytelling, the artists use writing and reading as acts of resilience, resisting epistemic violence while offering alternative ways of understanding the world. “Tacit Tongues”  draws on Zolotoev’s 2024 participation in Slavs and Tatars’ year-long residency- mentorship programme in Berlin and his experience working with artists across Central Asia, Mongolia, and Buryatia, where he, Balzhieva and Papaeva are all originally from. Info: NIKA Project Space Paris, 43 Rue de la Commune de Paris, Romainville, Paris, France, Duration : 25/5-19/7/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.nika-projects.com/

Richard Siegal’s video installation “art.Life” is a filmic development of his choreography “Collective Action”. It was created in collaboration with dancers from his company Ballet of Difference and 53 athletes from Yokohama. The starting point of the project was “Japanese Precision Walking”, also known as “Shudan Kodo”, a physical discipline of precisely choreographed group movements that attracted worldwide attention through YouTube videos. Fascinated by the aesthetics and discipline of this practice, Siegal traveled with his company to Yokohama in 2022 to learn from the athletes at the Nippon Sport Science University. In 2024, he developed the performance “Collective Action” based on these experiences, which takes up the rules and logic of Shudan Kodo – a movement language that, like a digital system, creates infinite variations from simple rules and at the same time questions the dynamics between the collective and the individual. Info: Project management: Eva Huttenlauch, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Luisenstraße 33, Munich, Germany, Duration: 29/5-15/6/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00 Thu 10:00-20:00, www.lenbachhaus.de/

Deborah Tarr’s powerful body of work in her exhibition “Rare Earth” channels the raw energy and poetic mystery of the natural world through a language of refined abstraction. Her emotionally resonant, texturally rich works that blur the boundaries between landscape, memory, and inner experience. In Rare Earth, she continues to refine her distinctive language of abstraction, capturing the quiet power of geological forms – rocks, mountains, and terrain reduced to their most essential lines and tones. Drawing from shifting weather systems, tidal flows, and ancient terrain, Tarr’s paintings are more than landscapes, they are inner topographies. Her brushwork is intentional, her compositions delicately balanced. These are acts of quiet self-soothing, steeped in emotional resonance and subtle vulnerability. The result is a body of work that feels both intimate and expansive, still and storm-touched, abstract and elemental. Lunar rhythms thread quietly through the exhibition. The moon appears as a recurring, abstracted motif, minimal yet powerful. Info: Cadogan Gallery, 7-9 Harriet Street, London, United Kingdom, Duration: 29/5-28/6/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-18:00, https://cadogangallery.com/

“An Apparition, A Song”, is Stephanie Comilang’s first solo institutional exhibition in the United States. Comilang contemplates migratory experiences, collective memory, intergenerational exchanges, and remnants of colonization through her investigations of labor, economy, and technology. Gathering decades of research and collaborative work—including film installations, virtual reality, and textile works—the exhibition amplifies perspectives often erased from dominant histories, emphasizing modes of creation and mutual support across temporalities and geographies. Known for making films that incorporate documentary and science fiction elements, Comilang stitches together drone vistas, vlog vignettes, and livestreams to create a visual lexicon that juxtaposes lo-fi authenticity with technological possibility. Drawing upon the translocal experiences of diasporic communities, her works materialize personal narratives, colonial histories, and global trade. In this exhibition, viewers will experience the immersive intimacy of POV smart glasses alongside everyday materials; cardboard shipping boxes and textiles function as soft architectures of memory, carrying social and personal accounts across borders. With these materials, Comilang reimagines the testimonies of migratory workers, artists, and knowledge-keepers to create a dialogue between past, present, and future. Info: Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA), 225 West 13th Street, New York, NY, USA, Duration: 31/5-10/8/2025, Days && Hours: Wed-Sat 11:00-18:00, Sun 12:00-18:00, www.cara-nyc.org/